Brand design for a business I started with my buddy Zak in 2015—a direct-to-consumer loose-leaf tea shop.

Designing for yourself is often times the most fun. That's how I feel about the Sleeveless Tea logo. I wanted to combine the elements of class and refinement associated with traditional UK tea brands with something more playful that better matches the name, "Sleeveless Tea".

With a plan to focus marketing on North American males ages 25-50, my goal was for the brand to feel familiar and approachable to them.

To achieve these things, I tried to create something that was not just male-centric, but also something that is reminiscient of a certain globally recognized company that happens to sell a very competitive product.

We wanted to make quality tea more accessible and approachable. That meant not overwhelming our customers with nuanced variations with ambiguous names. Intead, we chose to curate a small selection of 4 teas—green, black, oolong, and tisane ^{(a fancy name for herbal tea)}

In the end, we decided to shelf the project in order to focus on other work and relationships. It was a little shortlived but I am grateful for the experience & learnings it provided.

Some lessons include:

• Building is hard. Building and also marketing is very hard. Build your market first.

• Businesses need money to fund growth—whether it's upfront or earned over time. One is easier and faster.